Clinic of Hope - To Treat or To Cure

Steep Incline

Cancer is a hot topic. One of my closest friends was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago. I know several people whose lives have been adversely affected by cancer.

About one hundred years ago medical professionals realized cancer of all types was on the rise. The treatment of cancer has been a hot topic ever since. These days cancer is so prevalent it seems no family is free from its grasp.

Many organizations, and indeed industries, revolve around the existence of cancer. With the gargantuan strides made in science over the past 100 years, you may wonder as I have wondered, why can't we, mankind, find a cure for cancer? And, why is the focus on invasive extraction, or other dangerous methods, some even known to cause cancer?  It seems a civilization somewhere in this vast world of ours over the eons of time might have found something more effective. With the extensive amount of manpower, time, and money spent on finding a cancer cure in the past 100 years, why is it so elusive?

If a non-invasive, natural cure for cancer was put forward, that also relieved pain and suffering, you would think the whole world would pursue this miracle and rejoice. You may be surprised at how people did respond when such a cure was claimed.  

Pieced Together

In Clinic of Hope, author Donna Ivey weaves together a timeline of events in the intricate, and sometimes confusing story, of "Canada's Cancer Nurse" and the herbal formula she called Essiac (her name spelled backwards). Ivey's quest for truth in this cancer saga lets facts speak for themselves. Meticulous research of individuals and institutions involved in the Essiac saga is pieced together revealing a clear overlay of events.  In so doing, Ivey exposes the "cancer cure" shell game, played out not only by the nefarious, but by the altruistic as well.

 When it comes to a possible cure for a disease as rampant and lucrative as cancer, it doesn't take long before bees begin to swarm the hive; patients, doctors, health care institutions, professional organizations, cancer institutes, big pharma, government officials, promoters, and politicians - are all drawn like bees to honey. 

Rene Caisse 

Rene Caisse's story is compelling. When I first heard about Rene and her herbal remedy, I was stunned at the number of patients who survived cancer, many of whom sang her praises for decades. I was even more stunned to learn why her remedy wasn't more well-known, or at the very least, doggedly researched by healthcare institutions.

The Story 

Some time in the 1920s Rene met a female patient at the hospital where she was employed as a nurse. Rene noticed something unusual about the woman - one of her breasts was a mass of scar tissue. When she inquired about the reason, Rene said the woman told her:

 "I came out of England nearly 30 years ago," she told me. "I joined my husband who was prospecting in the wilds of Northern Ontario. My right breast became sore and swollen, and very painful. My husband brought me to Toronto, and the doctors told me I had advanced cancer and my breast must be removed at once. Before we left camp a very old Indian medicine man had told me I had cancer, but he could cure it. I decided I'd just as soon try his remedy as to have my breast removed. One of my friends had died from breast surgery. Besides, we had no money.

 "She and her husband returned to the mining camp, and the old Indian showed her certain herbs growing in the area, told her to make a tea from these herbs, and to drink it every day. She was nearly 80 years old when I (Rene) saw her, and there had been no recurrence of cancer. I was much interested, and wrote down the names of the herbs she had used. I knew that doctors threw up their hands when cancer was discovered in a patient; it was the same as a death sentence, just about. I decided that if I should ever develop cancer, I would use this herb tea."

Rene was a nurse, and her nursing school experience taught her that surgical removal of carcinomas was no guarantee cancer would not return somewhere else in the body.

 Tried and True

As it turned out, Rene's first opportunity to try the Indian herbal remedy was on her favorite Aunt (Mireza Potvin) who was diagnosed with "terminal cancer of the stomach with liver involvement". (Pg 55) Doctors gave her six months to live and told her there was nothing more they could do for her. By now Rene had been studying these herbs for some time. With the doctor's permission, Rene began treating her aunt. For the next two months Rene administered one cup of freshly brewed herbal decoction each day. After the second month it was clear Rene's aunt was rallying, so Aunt Mireza returned home to her family. 

When Dr. Fisher, who had initially treated Rene's aunt, learned of her success, he asked Nurse Caisse to treat more of his hopeless cancer cases. Soon, other doctors were sending terminal cancer patients her way. Many of these patients responded with great improvements. Before long Rene had turned a section of her mother's basement into a laboratory for testing. Here she studied the effects of oral, topical, and intramuscular injections on mice. She found injections produced the quickest results. (pg. 56) When administering weekly injections on human patients, tumors first appeared to enlarge and harden before gradually softening and shrinking.

Best Kept Secret

Through the ensuing years, Rene carefully guarded her remedy, never entrusting her formula or methods to others. Her motives were pure and obviously not financially driven - she never charged a patient for the remedy. She said, " … I was in no professional position to secure acceptance of Essiac, or recognition for its discovery, if I surrendered my formula before the merit of treatment was established beyond doubt." (pg 66) In trying to "establish beyond doubt" the merits of this formula, it seemed the powers of the universe would mount against her. After much struggle and misdirection from those with the power to support or suppress, Rene proclaimed, " I believe … nothing less than a conspiracy against finding a cure for cancer."

Thousands experienced pain relief, tumor shrinkage or complete elimination, and improvement with various ailments from the use of Essiac. Her own mother and aunt among them. Because of the spreading success of Essiac many more thousands signed petitions for the legalization of the herbal combination as a recognized cancer treatment.

Exactly as Directed

Over the course of nearly sixty years, Rene battled individuals and conglomerates, to have the Essiac formula seriously studied so it could be approved as a viable cancer treatment. Any time it looked like things might be moving forward, there were mistakes made by those entrusted to follow specific directions and procedures. Some of the mistakes made included: not using the correct parts of plants, heating things at the wrong temperature for the incorrect  amount of time; storing the decoction at the wrong temperature; incorrect administration, etc.

Quest for Truth

There are so many moving pieces in this saga it takes a book to cover the intricacies. Donna M. Ivey's collection of facts is pieced together in a way that helps the layman better understand why this formula has never undergone serious scientific scrutiny, and why no one seems to have been able to mimic Rene's success'.

This fascinating tale highlights reasons why Rene Caisse distrusted others with the formula, and the great lengths she went to, to ensure its free availability for any who desired it. There were some who claimed to have the Essiac recipe in Rene's own handwriting, however nothing has ever been authenticated. It’s possible her carefully guarded recipe may have been revealed following her death. The four herb recipe that passed from a medicine man, to a woman with breast cancer, to nurse Caisse, included burdock root, sheep sorrel (the whole plant), slippery elm bark, and Turkish rhubarb.

Today there are many people and products claiming to have the original formula. Feel free to try them out, or try making your own.

Look below for complete instructions for making Essiac as written in Clinic of Hope.

ESSIAC

• 6 1/2 Cups of burdock root (cut)
• 1 pound of sheep sorrel (powdered - the entire plant)
• 1/4 pound slippery elm bark (powdered)
• 1 ounce Turkish rhubarb root (powdered)

Mix these ingredients thoroughly and store in glass jar in dark dry cupboard.

Take a measuring cup, use 1 ounce of herb mixture to 32 ounces of water depending on the amount you want to make.

I use 1 cup of mixture to 8X32=256 ounces of water. Boil hard for 10 minutes (covered) then turn off but leave sitting on warm plate over night (cooling). In the morning heat steaming hot and let sit a few minutes. Then strain through fine strainer into hot sterilized bottles and sit to cool in dark cool cupboard. Must be refrigerated when opened.  When near the last when it's thick pour in a large jar and sit in frig overnight then pour off all you (can) without sediment. This recipe must be followed exactly as written. I use a granite preserving kettle 10-12 qts. 8 ounce measuring cup, small funnel, fine strainer to fill bottles.